A Scarborough man who learned about wilderness survival by watching TV has died of hypothermia in the bush north of Huntsville.

Just before dawn on Thursday morning, Richard Code disappeared into the darkness and lit out for the Ontario wilderness, bringing little more than a few supplies and the skills he had learned from watching Survivorman, a reality show about subsisting in the bush.

The 41-year-old left behind a note, asking his landlady to call police if he failed to return by Sunday night. On Monday, she reported him missing and on Wednesday afternoon, Code’s body was found in a marshy, snowed-in area just north of Huntsville.

Police say Code’s death is not considered suspicious at this time and his brother Stephen Code said OPP have informed him that the cause of death was hypothermia.

It remains unclear if Code has ever received formal wilderness training but relatives say much of his knowledge came from watching Survivorman. The Discovery Channel program featured survival expert Les Stroud living in the wilderness without food, shelter or equipment and Code would often attempt similar trips, venturing into the Muskoka backwoods without food or tents.

For some outdoor education experts, “survivalist” reality shows have skewed the public’s perception of how dangerous it really is to live off the land, prompting inexperienced campers to venture into the woods with a bolstered sense of confidence.

For survival instructor Gino Ferri, shows like Survivorman make for excellent entertainment but should never substitute real-world training.

“TV abstracts the real ugliness of survival,” said Ferri, who runs a school called Survival in the Bush and trained Stroud back in the day. “They make the wilderness look like it’s a romantic place. Well, it’s romantic, as long as you have all your gear and you’re camping and enjoying it. In a survival situation, it’s a nightmare.”

Stephen Code, who lives in Kitchener, said his brother was passionate about survival trips but as far as he knew, he also lacked any formal training.

“I understand that Richard has done some self-teaching, training, through the video work this gentleman’s (Stroud) done,” Code said.

He said he and his father would worry about Richard’s trips and often warned him of the risks.

“My father had conversations with him in the past about the dangers of camping with little gear,” he said.

Code’s landlady Barbara Ellis said her tenant frequently read books about wilderness survival and would regale her with tales of his adventures. She said Code could “whittle” and rip bark from trees, twisting the pieces into makeshift ropes.

“He would tell me how he would cut down boughs to make a shelter,” she recalled. “He would fish for food and he said there were certain trees that he could eat the bark.”

Ellis said she met her tenant through church and Code moved into her Scarborough home about two years ago. The 86-year-old described Code as pleasant and mild-mannered, who made a living by helping her do errands around the house.

She said Code did three survivor trips last year but most were during the summer months. He only attempted one wintertime trip last November but fell sick and lasted just one day, she added.

Ellis said she had a bad feeling last week as Code prepared for this latest trip.

“I just said, ‘I don’t like this one,’ ” she said. “He just laughed a little bit… I sort of dread these trips but I know they’re so very important to him.”

Code left home at around 4 a.m. and, as he often does, left a note with Ellis telling her when he would be back. He included a map with his GPS coordinates as well as a checklist of what materials he brought, which included a multi-tool, an axe, matches, a lighter, an emergency blanket, fishing tools, a compass, a survival book, maps and some cash. He did not use a cellphone.

Ellis called police when Code failed to return by Monday morning and police began conducting aerial searches of the area where Code indicated he was going, near Burks Falls.

Code was known to hitchhike to his camping destinations and according to his brother, police received a tip early Wednesday indicating that Richard had been picked up in Aurora and dropped off at a truck stop near Bradford.

Early Wednesday afternoon, Code was still hopeful his brother might turn up safe, but a few hours later provincial police announced they had found his brother’s body, just between Horn and Bear Lakes.

Toronto police say a post-mortem will take place, likely Friday.

OPP said Code was found by helicopter in an area that was no longer accessible by foot, thanks to heavy snowfalls in the area and surrounding marshes.

Police were tight-lipped about further details including what he was wearing, but Code was last seen wearing beige cargo pants, a dark jacket, hiking boots and a black “Yukon”-style hat.

Det. Const. Jeff Emms said Code was no “rookie” when it came to outdoor adventuring and clearly prepared for his trip. But at the same time, such survivor excursions have officers like him “scratching our heads.”

“I would never do it,” he said. “These TV shows that are on, right, Survivorman and all these kinds of shows, would put these kinds of thoughts in someone’s head to do it.”

When reached in Madagascar where he is filming a new television series, Stroud said he always stressed proper training on his show, as well as in his book.

“You need that time in the bush and there is no replacement,” Stroud said, speaking to the Star before Code’s body was located. “I wouldn’t attempt to solo until I’d done at least half a dozen or 10 courses . . . in the bush with people that knew what they were doing.”

For Stroud, his show is a “documentary” program and not a “reality-based” show, which he says portray wilderness survival in a flashy manner that gets people “all riled up.”

He defended Survivorman as being an educational show that conveyed just how miserable it truly is to subsist in the wilderness. He noted that he can’t control how viewers interpret his show, adding that people have credited his teachings in the past for saving their lives in survival situations.

But for Ferri, he worries about the effects of such survival reality shows and has noticed a spike in interest towards wilderness survival. Students tend to also bring an inflated sense of confidence into his classrooms now, he said.

“Don’t think that you can learn things like survival by simply watching a show,” he said. “I mean, how often have we said that?”

For Stephen Code, he has never watched Survivorman but said he doesn’t oppose such reality programming, as long as the shows couch their entertainment value in safety information.

But for Code, he also recognizes the potential dangers of such shows, perhaps now better than anyone.

“I think as laypeople, we’re always concerned about risky endeavours getting publicized on TV sets and society picking up these things and trying to execute them in the real world,” he said. “It’s disconcerting.”

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